Bent FEL Bucket

[George2615]

My neighbor has the same tractor and did the same method of plowing and bent his. We placed a 6x6 block of wood under the center and the two of us jumped up and down on the outer edge of the bucket. (we weigh about 240 ea.) It straightened his bucket out. If you don't have a couple of big guys you could also try the same 6x6 in the center and lay a couple 2x6 out from the bucket edges and drive a car / truck onto them to push it back into alignment.

 

[dfkrug]

I have been thru this several times. If the bucket is not
bent too bad, then I use heat, hydraulic jacks, come-alongs,
and a sledge hammer.

Pictured is a JD bkt that was too far gone, and work-hardened
from previous repair attempts. The carcass is only 1/8" thick.
My local tractor dealers had weld-on cutting edges, but they
wanted $300 for a 6-ft piece. I found a chunk of beveled plow
steel at a steel dealer for $60.

 

[dfkrug]

And here is the result. I cut out the top edge and the whole
bottom plate with a plasma cutter and welded in the sched 40
pipe for a strengthened top lip. I welded in a new piece of 1/8"
x 10" steel for the bottom, along with the 1/2"x6" plow steel.
Managing the heat is important to avoid warpage. No continuous
welds.

The resulting bkt for a JD 955 is better than the original was new.

 

[LarryS]

I really like the pipe idea. Fortunately the FEL on my GC2300 has a good strong top to it.

Looks like the edge needs to be cut off. Time to let my fingers do the walking to find a fab shop.

Thanks for everyone's suggestions!